In a Rust Belt city where over half the residents can’t afford the monthly cost of living, a potluck in a downtown park becomes an open-air reckoning with hunger and belonging. What begins as a simple shared meal draws hundreds of people from neighborhoods with little crossover, and turns into a powerful conversation about civic joy, the commitment to creative possibility in the face of pain and struggle.
A nine-minute documentary on Akron’s first Longest Table, created and produced by OTHRWRLD Stories and Civic Saturday Akron with support from NYCNext | The Longest Table and Knight Foundation.
At OTHRWRLD Stories, we believe trust moves at the speed of relationship and we work hard to foster true, community-emergent storytelling. Here’s what that looks like for Everybody Eats: Akron’s Longest Table:
- Local stakes, sourced and recognized. An estimated 57 percent of Akron households fall below United For ALICE’s bare-minimum survival budget — the economic backdrop the film reckons with.
- Return to roots. The Knight Foundation was founded in Akron in 1950, built on the Akron Beacon Journal, and still funds Akron as a flagship community. A film featuring The Longest Table, an initiative Knight Foundation supported, at a public park Knight also helped to revitalize, about civic expression coming to life in Akron, is that founding thesis in full fruition.
- Real residents own their stories. The film was produced and directed by Akronite Kate Tucker, a co-founder of Civic Saturday Akron, and features Akron neighbors and volunteers from several local organizations.
This production is part of a documentary series in development about a community coming together when everything is falling apart. For more information on that forthcoming series, message stories@othrwrld.nyc.
